Poverty Photos on Townhall

A villager cooks in his house in Yuangudui, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Chief of China's Communist Party Xi Jinping is seen in a picture during a visit in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A woman closes her eyes as she talks to another villager in Yuangudui, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Teenagers play basketball in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Villagers gather outside a house in Yuangudui, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A man stands on a farmland outside his house in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A villager walks with a cow in Yuangudui, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Villagers watch a basketball game in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Ma Gang, 81, sits inside his house in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A donkey is seen outside a house in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

A man sits on top of a hill in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Ma Gang, 81, stands inside his house next to a portrait of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Villagers gather inside a house in Yuangudui village, Gansu Province February 12, 2013. Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as China's new president during the annual meeting of the legislature beginning on March 5, visited Yuangudui in February to highlight the poverty that still reigns in huge swaths of the country. Closing a yawning income gap is likely to be one of the policy priorities of his administration and the impoverished villagers are fully conscious of the inequality plaguing China, even if some of them had never heard of Xi Jinping before he showed up in town. Most young people have left for the provincial capital of Lanzhou, where they can make 1,000 yuan ($160) a month, more than the average village income of 800 yuan a year. Picture taken on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

In this Sunday Feb. 10, 2013 photo, Javier Bofarull Marques, 44, tells The Associated Press of an unsuccessful job search in Spain, where unemployment is now 26 percent, but his luck in finding work in Poland in his home in Krakow, Poland,. Bofarull Marques is among a small but growing number of Western Europeans who are working in Poland, a dramatic reversal for an Eastern European country whose poverty and political repression once drove its own people abroad in droves. Poland’s economy has grown for 21 years straight even as Spain and other Western European countries are struggling to recover from the worst crisis in generations. A key factor in recent growth is a booming outsourcing sector. Dozens of international companies have outsourced key business services to Poland, making the Eastern European country the leading outsourcing destination in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

In this Sunday Feb. 10, 2013 photo, Javier Bofarull Marques, 44, tells The Associated Press of an unsuccessful job search in Spain, where unemployment is now 26 percent, but his luck in finding work in Poland in his home in Krakow, Poland,. Bofarull Marques is among a small but growing number of Western Europeans who are working in Poland, a dramatic reversal for an Eastern European country whose poverty and political repression once drove its own people abroad in droves. Poland’s economy has grown for 21 years straight even as Spain and other Western European countries are struggling to recover from the worst crisis in generations. A key factor in recent growth is a booming outsourcing sector. Dozens of international companies have outsourced key business services to Poland, making the Eastern European country the leading outsourcing destination in Europe. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, left, and former Nigeria President, Olusegun Obasanjo, right, attend the annual ThisDay awards ceremony, in Abeokuta, Nigeria, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that Nigeria must do more to alleviate the extreme poverty across the nation's predominantly Muslim north in order to halt the wave of bombings, shootings and kidnappings by Islamic extremists there. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton attends the annual ThisDay awards ceremony, in Abeokuta, Nigeria, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that Nigeria must do more to alleviate the extreme poverty across the nation's predominantly Muslim north in order to halt the wave of bombings, shootings and kidnappings by Islamic extremists there. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

An Egyptian man with his three children wear red during a symbolic hanging at an anti-government protest in front of Egypt's high court building in downtown Cairo, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. The Arabic writing on the banners reads, "death is more honorable for me and my children than poverty and hunger," and " Jeeka, Christy and Mohammed to heaven." Egypt's president called multi-stage parliamentary elections beginning in April but a key opposition leader warned Friday that the vote may only inflame tensions unless there are serious political talks first.(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Supporters of the ruling Bulgarian GERB party wave flags outside the parliament in Sofia February 21, 2013. Bulgaria's parliament accepted the government's resignation on Thursday after a spate of violent protests over high utility bills, opening the way for an early election and underscoring anger in Europe over weak growth and austerity. Outgoing Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who had won praise from investors by cutting the Balkan state's budget deficit, is now struggling to rebuild support among voters weary of persistent poverty and graft. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov (BULGARIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov (R) reacts as he arrives at the parliament in Sofia February 21, 2013. Bulgaria's parliament accepted the government's resignation on Thursday after a spate of violent protests over high utility bills, opening the way for an early election and underscoring anger in Europe over weak growth and austerity. Outgoing Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who had won praise from investors by cutting the Balkan state's budget deficit, is now struggling to rebuild support among voters weary of persistent poverty and graft. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov (BULGARIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)